Fun at Tia's

This week, Hannah is spending the week at my house. So far, we've had a great time. Because my niece is incredibly beautiful and imaginative and playful, I figured I'd inundate you all with pictures.

You already know I went home to watch Hannah's playset get built. You also saw the evidence of a successful play date on Saturday. On Sunday, we went to Emma's 2nd birthday party. It was great fun!

Emma got a new ladybug costume at a garage sale that she hasn't been wanting to take off. So, she wore it for the entire party! It was really cute. She enjoyed the new Dora doll that Hannah got her for her birthday. Hopefully her Mommy and Daddy can handle Dora's repeated half-shout of, "Do you want a hug? ♪♫Friends forever, you and me... ♪♫"

Emma kept taking her new toys to Hannah almost immediately. It was sweet to see her gravitate toward Hannah.

Hannah got to catch up with her family doc, Dr. Vore, Emma's grandpa. Since her surgery in February, she hasn't been to the doctor at all! That's amazing for her; she was getting a cold about every month or so, and it would last a week at least. It's been so nice to have her healthy, and it was nice for Dr. Vore to get to see her in the real world because she's often shy and quiet when at his office.

I got some special time with the birthday girl when she brought me one of her books to read to her. Loved it! :)

After the party, we drove to my house, and we've been playing since! On Monday, we played "chalk", took Oliver on a walk, she rode her Dora bike up and down the sidewalk, and she held Oliver prisoner while she played in "Mommy's bedroom" (where Miss sleeps when she's here). Hannah has enjoyed sleeping in that bedroom rather than the 3rd bedroom. I think she feels like a big deal in there.

Here's some shots of what we've been up to:

Hannah sets off down the driveway.

She enjoyed riding far down the sidewalk (don't worry, Mom and Miss; I only let her go as far as I could see her, and then I told her to turn around).

Time to accessorize with the weeds, er, flowers in the yard!

Parking the bike before we head inside.

We played chalk in the driveway.

Hannah turned the sun into a smiley sun all on her own! And I don't know where YOU went to sidewalk chalk art school, but I was always taught that drawing a flying bird as a wide lowercase "M" (like the shape near the clouds) was perfectly acceptable. Hannah took one look at it and said, "That's not a bird." Always a critic...

Our final creation:

Next it was time to draw Papa, Bubba, Tia, Oliver, Hannah, and Mommy. Notice her Vanna White pose:

Tuesday, we went to Bob Evans for breakfast (where she told me my new house is "so blueteefull" - guess she just decided for sure on that today ;)), got groceries at Walmart, and came home to play chalk some more. She wanted to "draw squares and numbers," and even I took a turn (though, sadly, no photographic evidence of this exists, and I'm really broken up about it... ;)).

On Wednesday, Hannah and I had a date with Laura at The Greene, the outdoor mall that's similar to Easton for you northern Ohio readers. Hannah loves Laura and informed me she'd be holding her hand while we were there. Sure enough, she did. Laura's response was, "Awww, thanks!" She was flattered that Hannah wanted to hold her hand. We went to the bookstore, went to some children's clothing stores, and got ice cream at Coldstone. Here's a shot of Hannah while we were waiting for Laura.

There's a fountain in the middle of The Greene that serves as a splash area. Adults bring kids and sit around the fountain while the little ones have at it. Hannah was a bit too timid to run through the water as it bubbled out, but she liked putting her toes in the puddles and sitting in them.